“What is so amusing, Taryn?” Verden seized the opportunity to talk to her.
Her first response was to say nothing, but that would end the conversation. “That this wine doesn’t seem to get me drunk.”
A few heads turned in her direction. Oh great, check out the freakish fairy raised in the mortal world.
“When you are drunk, your guard is lowered. That would be dangerous here.” The King’s fingers trailed up her back.
She ignored him and the unspoken warning, her attention on Verden and the way a few strands of his hair hung around his face as if they’d broken free of the tie and refused to be tamed. “But wouldn’t it be nice to just relax and not worry about everything just once?”
Verden nodded, but it was the Queen that spoke. “That is what the festivals are for, a chance to revel.”
“Have you picked a theme?” Verden looked away from her and back to the Queen. He knew the games too well and would never misstep, no matter how badly he wanted to.
“I have.” The Queen looked at Taryn. “We will dress as wild fae.”
Verden gave a perceivable flinch. “An intriguing choice.”
Taryn drank the rest of her alcohol-free wine. It wasn’t as though the Queen was going to pick a simple or commonplace theme. For a moment she wondered what the Court would make of the Halloween parties she’d attended. They had been fun, but she had no doubt that this party would be just another chance for scheming and backstabbing and power grabbing. She could hardly wait—not.
She tuned out the chatter about wild fae. No doubt Sulia would fill her in later, or one of the other Ladies would tell her she was doing it wrong—or they’d just laugh. Whatever. She didn’t want to be here. She just wanted the pardon for her father and then she’d be free to be with Verden. The only problem would be when she wanted to go home to the mortal world and he wanted to stay.
He only liked the mortal world when there were no mortals. She’d have to show him more, change his mind, because the alternative was that she stayed here, where they would never be free to do as they wanted and people would always be scheming around them.
“You seem distracted.” The King leaned closer, attentive. His age was showing in his pale eyes, the blue paler, harder, and older than it had been the first time she’d seen him. His eyes were giving him away. He might look thirty, but his eyes were brittle, like he’d seen too many centuries and played too many games at Court.
This was her opportunity. She’d played the games and had earned his attention. She turned to him. “I am. I sit here and play and hunt and laugh while my parents face death.”
The King blinked and considered her. “Your father could have served as a shadow for a year and a day. He chose exile. Your mother chose to follow him. We are all free to make choices.”
He chose exile. The words sank in and numbed her. Her gaze flicked to where the dark faceless, nameless shadows waited orders. As awful as the punishment was, it was only a year and a day. Exile could last decades. Now exile was a death sentence. Had her father stopped to think or had his pride gotten in the way? Did he really have a choice the way the King said, or was a deal made so he had to cross the veil?
“Are any of us really free?” Was she free to get up, walk over to Verden, and kiss him in front of everyone? She doubted it. “Has my father not served long enough in the mortal world?”
“It’s enough when I say it’s enough.” Power rippled off him; she should back away and let things be. But she couldn’t—not when this might be her only chance to discuss her father with the King.
“So you are free, the rest of us just suffer at your pleasure.” She met his gaze even though it chilled her to the core.
“You know nothing about suffering. You are young and brash and know nothing of our ways. When you have lived as long as I have, you will see a far bigger picture, and while you think you are the center of your universe, like all youth, you will see that you are a speck.”
“I’d rather be a speck with compassion than a king with none.”
He laughed, deep and mirthless. “You have no idea about what you speak. You tell your father that when he is ready to serve as a shadow for a year and a day he can come back.”
Her heart gave a joyful bounce. She’d done it! Her father and mother could come to Annwyn and be safe—if her father served his original sentence. Her glee withered at the realization.
Her father had sought to avoid the penalty once by leaving. Would he agree to serve now? She recalled the argument with her parents when they’d told her she was coming to Court. The looks and the unspoken words. Her father wishing to put things right. He knew this is what the King would demand of him—it was her mother who didn’t want that to happen. It didn’t matter. If this was what it took for them to live surely, they would grasp it. She was going to hold on and nail this deal down.
Taryn smiled at the King, but it was cool and measured. “I’m not allowed to leave Court.” She hoped he wouldn’t hear the lie in her words, that he didn’t know from Felan that she was sneaking off with Verden. This was getting complicated when she wanted simple. She just wanted the Hunter.
“I’ll escort you myself so you can hear the excuses from your father’s lips. You want to hold anyone in contempt, hold him. His pride got in the way.”
“His pride got in your way. Would you sentence him and my mother to death in the mortal world?”
“She made her choice. She chose love over duty.” He looked at her, into her, and a chill settled around her. His fingers touched her cheek. “I wonder how far the seed has fallen from the tree. Watch your step, Taryn, as even my reach extends only so far. If you fall, I may not be able to help you.”
He pulled back, but she put her hand on his arm.
“I have your word that if my father agrees to serve the Court as a shadow servant for one year and a day, they can come back?”
“You have my word.” He kissed her hand, but his lips were nothing like Verden’s. Where the Hunter’s eyes were molten with desire, the King’s were cold with control. But he was a fairy and his word was good—or should be.
She didn’t smile this time. With him, she was cold and dead inside, and she could only fake it so far. Instead, she met his gaze. She needed to end this game. “When will you take me across the veil?”
He looked at her for a heartbeat. “You remind me of your mother more and more.” Taryn wasn’t sure if that was a compliment. “Your love for your parents surpasses all other protocol.”
“Isn’t that how it should be? The love between parents and children should be exempt from the games and deals?” However, it probably wasn’t. Nothing was sacred or special here.
“It should be.” He glanced at his son. “I will take you after the midsummer festival. You’d best hope your father gives you the response you so desperately desire or his pride may damn him again.” Then he turned away and spoke to Felan.
She wanted to collapse with relief that the worst was over. All she had to do was get through the festival and then she would be free to do what she wanted.
Chapter 13
“I don’t want to go to the wilds tonight. I need a drink or three.” Taryn leaned against a tree. Ever since the hunt, she’d looked tense. On one hand Verden didn’t blame her, but on the other she wasn’t playing the game properly.
“Where do you want to go?” He’d hoped for somewhere where they could be alone, but maybe that was the last thing they needed.
She lifted her gaze from the ground to look at him. “Take me to a pub where we can drink and laugh and kiss and not care what anyone thinks.”